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Contemporaries Essays, Stuckness

Stuck in the Future (of the Past)

When I started writing this, in mid-June of 2022, it was 100 degrees in central Illinois. A “heat dome” had settled over much of the United States — it was…

Contemporaries Essays, Stuckness

Introduction to Stuckness

Stuckness might be the prevailing affect of late modernity. In contrast to the humanities’ valorization of sustained attention to the nuance of textuality, or to the accelerated demands on our…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

The Age of Anesthesia

Heterosexuality is undergoing a major public relations crisis. From Gallup polls proclaiming Gen Z as the “queerest generation ever” to reactionary pundits inveighing against the death of traditional family values,…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

Femcel Heteropessimism

Femcels — the female version of involuntary celibates, or, “incels” — are rapidly gaining visibility and attention, as evidenced by the recent uptick in femcel related content on social media…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

How do we write about love of cock?

There’s something embarrassing, shameful, about enormous desire: cuntstruck, dick-drunk, dickmatized, down bad. So much work goes into pretending to be more upright, less addicted, than we really are. When I…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

The Rom-Com is Dead, Long Live the Rom-Com

About twenty-five minutes into Joachim Trier’s 2021 film The Worst Person in the World, protagonist Julie is leaving a party where her boyfriend was being annoying. She is enjoying a…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

New Men, Same Story: Ted Lasso‘s Heteroformalism

Men are good now — haven’t you heard? Nice guys are having a cultural moment: every online platform has lists of “unproblematic faves,” men like Keanu Reeves, Fred Rogers, or…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

The Lover’s Complaint Concerning His Working Conditions

Heteropessimism is often understood as a female complaint. The idea that heterosexuality’s inequities and disappointments are borne disproportionately by women is so axiomatic that Jane Ward could reasonably dedicate The…

Contemporaries Essays, Heteropessimism

Compulsory Heterosexuality, Past and Present: Adrienne Rich and the Lesbian Masterdoc

I started using TikTok in late 2020. Not long after joining, the app began feeding me videos by queer women who enthusiastically praised something called the “Lesbian Masterdoc,” describing it…